For many applications employing polymeric materials, cross-linking of the polymer is a critical and necessary step in preparing many commercially viable products. Historically, one approach to cross-linking a polymer has been to introduce a chemical component, commonly referred to as a “cross-linking agent.” Typical examples of cross-linking agents are melamines, formaldehyde, chromates, polyfunctional silanes, zirconates, borates, polyfunctional acids and polyfunctional amines.
More recently, polymer(s) have been developed which do not require the addition of a cross-linking agent. Many of these polymers employ glycidyl or amine functionalities to enable the polymer to form covalent bonds to itself or other functional materials. This approach is advantageous because the cross-linking reaction is simple and the resultant product is a commercially viable polymeric material. For example, crosslinked polymers of N-vinyl amides, such as N-vinyl pyrrolidone (VP or HPVP) and N-vinyl caprolactum (VCL), can be made by the addition of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) functionality according to BS. R Reddy et.al. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol. 43, 251-258 (1991) and S. A. Sukhishvili et.al. Journal of Polymer Science: Part A—Polymer Chemistry Vol. 44, 183-191 (2006).
Also, EP0103184 assigned to Diamond Shamrock discloses hydrogel terpolymers of GMA (50%) and VP (40%) and hydroxyethylmethacrylate (HEMA, 10%). The U.S. Publication No. 20070056900 assigned to BASF discloses polymer comprising 60-99% by weight of at least one N-vinyl amide monomer (VP or VCL) and 1-40% by weight of at least one monomer selected from, for example GMA, HEMA, aminostyrene compounds and imidazoles.
Given the many uses for cross-linked polymeric materials, there is a need for cross-linkable polymers; the present invention is directed to polymers containing polymerizable functionalities.